


Like a Persona Rising

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Persona 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aigis reflects: A machine is created for a purpose. (Spoilers through the December 2 full moon.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Persona Rising

**Author's Note:**

> Written for koanju

 

 

They were activated with a purpose. It wouldn't have meaning to say otherwise; they were created for a purpose, and they were only activated to serve it.

There were dozens of Anti-Shadow Emergency Control Weapons. They were all built on the same model, with only the slight differences necessary to make them unique, to allow them a sense of self, and therefore allow them a Persona.

When any one of them looked around, there was an array of slightly differently shaped, but otherwise homogeneous forms. Something about the curve of this chassis meant _she_. Something about the design of her face and the particularities of her programming made her _Aigis_. Those facts were given.

They were always activated with a purpose. This time, the purpose was immediate and pressing.

Escaped Shadows. She and the others were to seek out and destroy them. Those were premise and conclusion.

They received their briefings and orders directly. A tremendously powerful Shadow had escaped. Updated: twelve other shadows, in addition to the first. Smaller ones gathering could be assumed as well; that was a constant in the calculations.

They dispersed as they received coordinates.

As Aigis traveled toward her assigned target, she received updates from the others.

 _Shadow encountered_.

 _Engaging_.

She observed as she monitored the channel traffic that not once did she receive and _enemy eliminated_ signal.

By the time she approached the bridge, the channel was silent but for the base computer's automatic polling. She was the only one who continued returning her status.

She predicted that all of the others had ceased to function, and updated her baselines.

Accordingly, she approached the bridge with caution.

A glance from a moderate distance told her enough for an analysis. There were a few small shadows on the bridge, gathered around a car that had crashed into a rail; probably its inhabitant or inhabitants had retained awareness when the Dark Hour struck, and had made easy prey for the Shadows. A larger Shadow was stationary in the center of the bridge; that had to be her target, although it was slumped, ragged-looking and strangely blank.

 _Visual confirmation on Shadow Alpha_ , she reported, and forwarded her information.

 _Acknowledged,_ the base computer responded, and then after a yawning minute that meant humans were being consulted, _the Arcana of that Shadow is Death. Your orders: Destroy at all costs._

 _Acknowledged_ , she returned, and stepped forward.

She dispatched the smaller Shadows with a spray of bullets; they were not relevant to her objective, but they would doubtless interfere; better to destroy them before her attention was focused elsewhere.

Her target turned at the sound of gunfire, it's hollow eyes landing on her. She brought her had up to bear even as her analysis subroutine triggered. Slumped or not, ragged looking or not, it was _powerful_.

 _Engaging_.

She fired a found of her fingers, to about as much effect as she expected--nearly none.

"Palladion," she said, and if the Shadow reeled when her Persona appeared (in a human she would have classified the movement as _surprise_ ), it recovered and quickly summoned a barrier that countered everything Palladion could put forth.

The backlash knocked and ripped at her chassis; she was sustaining heavy damage, and the Shadow had not even attacked yet. She revised the estimate of the probability of her victory downwards.

Then the Shadow moved, energy shifting like--

The lighting lanced through her in an instant of bright pain, leaving her circuits sparking at the joints. Her automatic systems went immediately into motion, trying to switch everything vital over to undamaged connections.

However, her mechanics were barely functional enough to raise her body up again, and she found herself updating her chances of victory to zero.

The logic sent her reeling for a moment. _Defeat at all costs_. _I_ can't.

Her mind stumbled. _I--it's not defeat, but could--Palladion--if only--_

Movement in the corner of her display, from near where the smaller shadows had gathered. Not that their interference would make a difference in the outcome of the battle at this point--

But _no_. It was a human child, climbing awkwardly out of the back seat of the car, and staring at the standoff between her and the Shadow with wide eyes.

 _It is the only choice_ , Aigis thought.

"Palladion," she said again, and the force of her Persona release was enough to make her stumble.

Instead of attacking normally, she twisted her power sideways, made it into something she didn't know she could. The shadow fell apart at the contact, it's solid form shifting to a featureless mass of darkness. Not permanent, she know instinctively, and no less dangerous. But if she could seal it--

The energy required was almost more than she had. She barely managed to keep power to her optics and audio long enough to see the Shadow slammed into the boy and hear his scream before she shut down.

* * *

When she awoke next, it was without a purpose. She knew that was wrong, but couldn't seem to access the knowledge to tell her why. Should she be doing something? Should she still be asleep?

She should be near this boy. The urge came without explanation, but she accepted it.

Even later, it was strange. She was an Anti-Shadow weapon. Her purpose was to destroy Shadows--she had no other reason for existing.

However, the Dark Hour was only one hour, and now she was allowed to be active the other twenty-four. Nothing of importance to her mission was likely to happen during the day, but deactivating herself for more than a human sleep cycle seemed wrong. Uncomfortable, she wanted to call it, even though she knew logically that made no sense.

The only thing she had was the still-inexplicable need to stay with this specific boy. That made even less sense, but it was a function to perform. The lack of outside guidance made her nervous, but not as nervous as the idea of having no guidance at all.

And then there was Ryoji. Aigis was used to not being able to explain things she observed; she was not used to these things coming from inside herself. That wasn't how it was supposed to work. She could only presume that she was not functioning properly.

It was a relief to look at Ryoji on the bridge and know what he was. Aigis had been performing her proper function all along, working towards destroying the same Shadow she had failed to kill ten years ago.

And yet it wasn't the same. Because she looked at Ryoji--who was a Shadow, who was _Death_ , who had to be destroyed--and saw him as human. She still fought as hard as she had back then, and she was stronger now--but it was just as futile, for Ryoji wasn't even counterattacking. But she felt completely different, wanted to scream at him and wanted the rest of the team to be here and wanted them to be somewhere safe because she couldn't protect them, and that not only made no sense, it was _contradictory_.

And she thought of the boy, who was no longer relevant to her mission except as an ally, and felt--a swelling feeling, like Palladion rising but weaker. _Emotion_ , her brain supplied. _Grief, guilt_. She knew the words, but they couldn't apply. She was a machine, she couldn't feel guilty.

She could cease to function, but she could always be repaired. She couldn't be frightened.

She didn't know what else to call it.

 


End file.
